Life is not meant to be trekked through alone, and I can confidently say that my partner in crime through it all has never left my side. 

Though we are technically cousins, that doesn’t mean we’re the type that only sees each other on holidays and special occasions—however, we do spend those events together all the same. No, we are the cousins that see each other almost every single day and live a short 2 minutes away from each other. Just a hop, skip, and a jump, and we’re at each other’s front door. 

If we don’t physically see each other, then we never end the texting chain. We can pick up a random conversation and know exactly what we’re talking about with minimal context—often a play-by-play of our day is discussed. 

“I’m having ice cream right now.” 

“Oooh, yum, I’m going to go have some too!”

Despite being incredibly similar in many ways, we could not possibly look more different. 

Our claim to be sisters—though technically we are only cousins—is disproved by our opposite looks, but what does that matter? 

Her uncontrollably curly, copper, and red-brown hair coupled with her round hazel-green eyes and oodles of freckles sprinkled on her face suit her perfectly. 

The fact that we are only a year and a half apart in age only helped us become as close as we are. 

I only wish we got to be in the same grade at school—I’d love to spend a math class together. Math is a mutual enemy of ours in school and I think it would be quite the sight to try and battle through one together. 

Although the slight age gap prevents us from being in the same class, it doesn’t limit our time spent together. There’s no going back from the countless sleepless sleepovers, cute and classy tea parties, hectic playful pool days, family excursions out and about, and blissful bike rides that created a binding too hearty to break. 

Life does indeed get busy, but even the simple asking of “how was your day?” is enough to keep each other caught up and in the loop. 

The only real quarrel we have gotten into that is memorable to me is when we were only about nine and ten years old. Having gone to the Great Wolf Lodge that past year, we both got matching wolf stuffed animals that were colored in a beautiful tie-dyed pattern. However, one of the wolves’ noses was a little bit more blue-colored than the other, and we both claimed the less-blue one was ours. 

Her mom—my aunt—had to pull up a picture of us holding them when we got them to settle the debate, and sure enough, mine had the bluer nose. Just like that, the arguing stopped and we went back to being nothing less than best friends. 

Having our only majorly memorable argument be over a stuffed animal when we were young is pretty impressive considering our very extensive history, and I think that’s just proof of how well our personalities match and complement each other. 

A swirl of emotions could arise then dissipate in a matter of seconds when we’re together. Even an event as simple as feeding the ducks by the pond in our neighborhood can become quite the catastrophe complete with girly squeals and petrified pond inhabitants. 

And, sleepovers at grandma and poppy’s house are a totally different story. Who knew that fluffy whipped cream could depart from resting on top of innocent ice cream sundaes to being lobbed onto each other’s faces, smiles all the way. 

She’s my vacation buddy, fierce confidant, silly goose, Maddyland, and all the other names I’ve come up with for my life-loving companion. I could never possibly describe the whole journey of our lives together; there would be too much left out or understated. So, all in all, I’m incredibly grateful for my partner in crime always by my side.